Comments for Battle of Ontario....
From Sportsnet:
The Globe and Mail reports Red Wings senior vice-president Jim Devellano and Sharks president Greg Jamison have said their respective NHL teams will not grant the Maple Leafs permission to speak to Detroit GM Ken Holland or assistant GM Jim Nill or San Jose GM Doug Wilson.
Cox said this this morning:
According to president Richard Peddie, the club wants "a winner," someone who is a "long-term builder and short-term fixer," an executive with "NHL experience and an established track record, a success on and off the ice."
What's interesting, however, is that of the four teams that have made their way to the NHL's conference championships this spring, none are managed by individuals who initially made their way into their current jobs by first accumulating the type of experience the Leafs are apparently demanding.
Cox, that SOB. When the Leafs tried doing it that way (ie JFJ) it didn't work and Cox delighted in it from Day One. Now he wants to advocate doing the exact same thing?!?!?!
Good point. JFJ was exactly that situation.
..."long-term builder and short-term fixer,"
Mike Holmes?
Holmes on Leafs!
This whole team is going to have to go.
LOL..faulty foundation with a 1967 decor..
If Toronto signed an unproven player to $850K a year with a bonus structure that could net him $2.5M a season, as Dallas did, you're damn right expectations would be high.
In what universe? Hype might be high in Toronto, but nobody really expects or demands anything. People get fired at least a year too late in almost every case. Everyone (even the Leafs fans) fully expect the Leafs will miss the playoffs next year again. You could argue they're the one team in professional sports with the least real 'expectation' pressure.
You want to talk about high expectations? Have a GM bring your team to the finals, and then get fired.
You want to talk about high expectations? Have a GM bring your team to the finals, and then get fired.
High expectations or high stupidity? Look where it got Ottawa! Say, Don, can you do one of those counters up that tracks the last time Ottawa won a playoff game for us?
Everyone expects the Leafs to miss the playoffs next year because the team surely will be rebuilding. Rebuilding teams miss the playoffs. At least the expectations, after three post-lockout seasons, match reality.
It's bullshit. There are no expectations in Toronto. You haven't been in a final in half a century. You could miss the next 10 playoffs and still be spouting the same crap, but that's all it would be.
It's bullshit. There are no expectations in Toronto.
You know this how? Because you come on to a few blogs now and then? The expectations here are gigantic. Just because the team hasn't met them doesn't mean they aren't there.
Boston didn't win a World Series for 80+ years, and the park is full every game every year. Does this mean they didn't have high expectations?
Also, lets stop using "making the finals" as some kind of benchmark. Toronto have not won a STANLEY CUP in 40+ years. That's the prize. Remember? Oh wait, your team has never won one since games stopped being played against high school teams on rivers.
You know this how?
I know it by the next sentence: You haven't been in a final in half a century. You could miss the next 10 playoffs and still be spouting the same crap, but that's all it would be.
The Leafs don't win because they don't have to win. Every columnist in your city, every guy on the radio, every guy on the street has said (and heard) this from a variety of sources, I'm sure. Except maybe you.
You haven't even been close. The Bo-Sox and the teams you refer to got close many times before the stars aligned. But at least they were competitive.
Also, if you know anything about e.g. BoSox fans, you know the bulk of the shit they talked about was at each other.
I got news for you: If anyone's the BoSox, it's us.
I got news for you: If anyone's the BoSox, it's us.
Oh Good lord.
Yeah. Even the winner loses this argument.
But the BoSox fans were loyal to an organization that got close and then managed to lose in some of the most convoluting and heartbreaking ways ever. That's what led to high expectation, and higher heartbreak.
That's not the Leafs. The Leafs just suck. Sheer probability alone would dictate better results and going further than they have. It's not expectation anymore.
The Leafs don't win because they don't have to win. Every columnist in your city, every guy on the radio, every guy on the street has said (and heard) this from a variety of sources, I'm sure. Except maybe you.
This theory that Toronto doesn't really care about winning is thrown around regularly, but it doesn't even make sense.
Why did Toronto bother to spend $67M a year pre-lockout when everybody else bar a few teams were spending $30-$40M? If they didn't care about winning, why spend that kind of money?
Also, if MLSE are so money hungry and only care about the bottom line and are spending to the cap anyway, why WOULDN'T they be gunning for playoff games? Each playoff game is a million dollars of pure profit just off the ACC. Let alone everything else.
Utter bullshit.
Toronto fans want to win. The team has no reason not to win. The media probably are the only ones who don't want to win, since a press conference for a fired coach in Toronto probably gets more viewers than a Sens hockey game on national TV. Bad news sells. Since you seem to follow the media so closely, surely you already knew that.
But the BoSox fans were loyal to an organization that got close and then managed to lose in some of the most convoluting and heartbreaking ways ever. That's what led to high expectation, and higher heartbreak.
You're talking about a span of 80 years. Lots can happen.
Since 1992, Toronto have been in the eastern finals twice, won probably 10 playoff rounds (four against your team), and missed going to the finals because of a botched ref call on Wayne Gretzky. You want to talk about heartbreaking?
Of course, you only seem to use the lockout as your rear-view mirror...
Why did Toronto bother to spend $67M a year pre-lockout when everybody else bar a few teams were spending $30-$40M? If they didn't care about winning, why spend that kind of money?
To get recognizable names (not a winning team, mind you) and hopefully move some more condos/merchandise/cable packages.
Well I'm sure the whole Buckner thing would've been just as heartbreaking in the AL division finals. Or the regular season.
C'mon, get a clue, will ya?
To get recognizable names (not a winning team, mind you) and hopefully move some more condos/merchandise/cable packages.
I appreciate your resilience.
Well I'm sure the whole Buckner thing would've been just as heartbreaking in the AL division finals. Or the regular season.
C'mon, get a clue, will ya?
What this proves more than anything is that as an Ottawa fan you have no comparable events of your own to argue with. Take away the one trip to the finals that Ottawa were never in, and all you have are a bunch of mediocre and forgettable playoff series under your belt.
Well done.
I accept your surrender.
Jesus, one of these two goddam teams had better win a Cup quick because I can't keep reading these lame arguments.
Sorry Pete, neither team are even close.
...at least we have each other. 
Sigh...
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